Comments

Einsteinwasaliberal

Lincoln's only mistake was allowing McClellan to continue as General of the Army of the Potomac after the Peninsula Campaign. Lincoln committed many wartime acts that should be question including suspension of habeous corpus. However, his decision to preserve the Union at all costs is not in question.

TheBlueAndTheGray

Lincoln had the pro-Confederate members of the Maryland Legislature arrested by Federal troops in nearby Frederick, MD on August 7, 1861. The general feeling was that Maryland wanted to remain a Neutral state during the Civil War. If that happened DC would have to be abandoned and the capitol relocated to Philly or NYC (again). The Fed's couldn't have a CSA state to the South and a Neutral one to the North. Historically 'First Blood' was drawn on Pratt Street in Baltimore when the 6th Mass moving between rail stations were attacked by a mob. 4 soldiers and 12 civilians were killed. If you go to Federal Hill in Baltimore above the Inner Harbor you'll not that the lone cannon on the hill still points to Pratt St. Federal Hill was a Federal encampment not for the defense of Baltimore but for the suppression of the city. The jailed representatives ended up jailed in the National Historic Shrine at Fort McHenry (the Baltimore Bastille) without charges or trail

TheBlueAndTheGray

The imprisoned included Francis Scott Key's grandson, Francis Key Howard. Others included: George William Brown, the Mayor of Baltimore. Police Commissioner George P. Kane. Several newspaper editors and owners critical of Lincoln. Maryland political figures SUSPECTED of being Confederate sympathizers. But here's the deal Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution reads "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in causes of rebellion or invasion of the public safety may require it.' So was Lincoln wrong to suspend the Writ of Liberty? Was the public safer due to his actions - I think not. Virginia voted not to secede from the Union until Lincoln called up troops to attack those Southern states that did break with the Union. An avoidable internal war that resulted in ~3/4 of a million deaths (mostly from disease) and ~400,000+ wounded in action.

BobArrington

This article is essentially false. Hasn't any West Virginia historian EVER looked at the Ordinance of Secession itself? The signatures of 28 West Virginia delegates are on it. Benjamin Wilson signed the April copy of the Ordinance but was arrested in June before he could sign the June copy, so a total of 29 of West Virginia's 49 delegates signed on to Virginia's secession from the United States. West Virginia's Civil War history is totally distorted and needs to be re-writted from the ground up. Francis Pierpont told Lincoln directly that West Virginians were against statehood "The Union men of West Va were not originally for the Union because of the new state." That is a direct quote and the telegram is in the Library of Congress.